Bihar – On the Road to Modernisation

Building of road infrastructure is on the priority agenda for the state governmentas it aims to connect the capital to the remotest areas to strengthen the stateeconomy and inclusive growth agendaThe state has been exposed to politicalapathy for long and was growing at aslower rate than the country for decadestill around 2001-02. However, the state pickedup the pace of growth in the recent past andhas been doing very well in terms of growthperformance in the last few years. With focuson infrastructure especially roads, the stategovernment has taken up the constructionof roads and bridges on a large scale in keepingwith its resolution of connecting the statecapital with the remotest area so as to cover thedistance within a maximum time of 6 hours.

Table: Main Component of the project

Original Length

95.000 Km

Re-aligned Length

92.935 Km

Existing ROW

30-36 Meter

Lane Standard

Four lane with paved shoulder (Existing two lane)

No. & Length of Bypass

3 Nos. of Bypasses

Manpur Bypass

3.950 Km

Wazirganj Bypass

4.575 Km

Tungi Bypass

1.900 Km

Total length of Bypass

10.425 Km

No. & Length of Major Bridges

6 Nos. of Major Bridges, Aggregate Length 1347.8 Meter

Phalgu River Bridg

1.74 M

Paimer River Bridge

90.00 M

Tungi River Bridge

233.26 M

Panchane River Bridge

233.00 M

Tilaiya River Bridge

1.64 M

Panchane River Bridge

1.16 M

Phalgu River Bridg

546.74 M

No. & Length of Minor Bridges

33 Nos., Length: 421.47 Meter

No of Toll Plaza

2

Strengthening Economy
the per capita Net State Domestic Product(NSDP) increased by 84.13 % from Rs. 7,749 in2005-06 to Rs. 14,268 in 2012-13 compared toan increase of 50.5% in per capita NSDP at thenational level during the same period. This wasdue to the implementation of large social andinfrastructure projects to set the pace of growthengine of the state. This is supported by statisticsthat during the period 2006-13, the sectorsrecording a growth rate of more than 15 percentwere registered manufacturing – 18.2 percent,construction – 21.9 percent, communication- 38.4 percent, trade, hotels and restaurants- 15.1 percent, and banking and insurance -23.5 percent. Communication, banking andconstruction were the key performing sectorsfor the state. To ensure the momentum is notlost, the state government has put infrastructuredevelopment especially in road, electricity andirrigation would get top priority. There is extensivework being carried out in roads across thestate to strengthen the network of connectivityof rural to urban areas and vice-versa, as they are the backbone of any state economy. Manyprojects are announced on National Highways(NH), State Highways (SH), Major DistrictRoads (MDR) and rural roads.

Building NewInfrastructure In Bihar

“The improved road connectivity to remotest villages in Bihar has enabledthe rural population to access government benefits more easily,” saysChanchal Kumar, Secretary, Building Construction Department, Governmentof Bihar in conversation with Mohd Ujaley
You have been in Chief Minister’soffice from 2005 to August2012. What kind of transformationhas Bihar seen during thelast few years?The state government has taken many new initiativesfor improving law and order. The improvementin law and order has given confidence to thecommon man; it has also enabled a series of newinvestments to come in the IT sector and othersectors. There has been substantial improvementin education and healthcare. The infrastructuresector, like roads and electricity, there has beensignificant advances. The vision was to connectall the villages with population of up to one thousand,but now the state government has gone astep ahead and is now connecting habitations of up to 250 to 500 also. The improved road connectivityto remotest villages in Bihar has enabledthe rural population to access government benefitsmore easily. The agriculture produce canbe brought to the market efficiently because thetransaction cost is decreased. More than 2.11lakh teachers have been appointed to improvethe quality of education in rural areas. Manynew hospitals have been built to provide free andsubsidized room to the citizens. The quality of lifein all parts of Bihar has become much better as aresult of these initiatives.

Please tell us about the workthat you are doing in the BuildingDepartment?Before the year 1982, Road Construction,Building Construction and Rural EngineeringOrganisation were all under the Public WorksDepartment (PWD). In the administrative view,Public Works Department was split into three differentdepartments named: Road ConstructionDepartment, Building Construction Departmentand Rural Engineering Organisation Departmentby the Cabinet Secretariat and Co-ordinationDepartment’s. Our main objective is to plan anddesign building network to provide optimisedconnectivity to residential and non-residentialgovernment buildings of different departments. We also take care of construction, renovation,upgradation and maintenance of residential andnonresidential government buildings of differentdepartments. We try our best to completeevery construction project on time. Many newprojects have been started, like construction andexpansion of legislative assembly and secretariatbuilding. These projects are progressing as perthe schedule. The work for creating the BiharMuseum has already been started and the projectis expected to be completed in near future. Pleaseprovide us an overview of the e-Niwas Yojana.The e-Niwas yojana was started with the objectiveof bringing transparency in the allotment ofhouses government employees and ministers.We are getting reports that many of the places areunder illegal occupation by people. So we thoughtthat we should have a computer based system thatcan keep track of all the vacant lodging places, andpeople will be allowed to make bookings online.Through this process we have already allocatednew houses to many deserving citizens. Frequentinspection, training, proper utilization of humanresources, and inspire the officials with great senseof enthusiasm, connecting and visualizing formultiple latest techniques are the basic instinct fordevelopment of our organization. Problems andgrievances of staff are being addressed throughefficient and scientific manner.

NH-82 project
The recent approval for upgradation of NH-82in Bihar promises to usher overall economicgrowth of the region with better connectivity andimproved physical infrastructure. The CabinetCommittee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) hasrecently approved the project for the four laning of the 93 km long Gaya-Hisua-Rajgir-Nalanda-Bihar Sharif section on National Highway-82in Bihar. The project connects Nalanda, wherethe ancient set of learning popularly called asNalanda University. The place is visited conjointlyby the tourists who visit Bodh Gaya. Theroad shall also connect Rajgir, where VishwaShanti Stupa or Japanese Pagoda is a major touristattraction. Rajgir is also a popular pilgrimdestination for Buddhists. The project shall alsofacilitate Gaya to develop as a regional servicecentres with quality physical and social infra-structure for its citizen and as a pilgrimage andleisure destination for visiting tourists with thrivingsustained economy.Undertaken by Bihar State Road DevelopmentCorporation Ltd, total project cost is estimatedat Rs 1408.85 crore including Rs 1216.16crore as civil construction and supervisionworks and Rs 192.69 crore as the cost of landacquisition, rehabilitation and pre constructionactivities. The project will be completed withinthree years of signing of the contract agreement.The project is being funded by Japan InternationalCooperation Agency. With upgradationto four lane by improvement of geometrics andstrengthening overlays in addition to providingbypasses to the built up areas, smooth andsafe traffic flow and substantial economic gainin terms of reduced Vehicle Operating Costs(VOC) and reduced travel time – these wouldbe achieved. The project road thus provides asmooth connectivity to Gaya/Bodhgaya, Rajgirand Nalanda both from Patna in turn connectingEast-West corridor and GQ at Dobhi on NH-2.Gaya has also an international airport and servesas gateway to religious tourism. Improved roadconnectivity is also expected to bring in overalleconomic growth of the region it serves.

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